UPDATE 1-EU adopts plan on bank money laundering, may delay reforms

European Union finance ministers
on Tuesday adopted a plan to enhance the bloc's defences against
money laundering at banks, but the move could slow a legislative
reform on banking supervision.

The action plan is meant to be the EU response to
high-profile cases of alleged money laundering at banks in
several EU states, including Denmark, Estonia, Latvia,
Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and Cyprus.

Ministers agreed there was a "need to strengthen the
effectiveness of the current framework" to counter money
laundering, and proposed some non-legislative actions to
implement in coming months.

But the plan did not include any recommendation for
legislative changes and did not take address calls from the
European Central Bank to set up an EU-wide agency to counter
money laundering.

The plan could also delay a reform of money-laundering
supervision at banks proposed by the European Commission in
September, because ministers first want to assess the recent
cases of financial crime at the bloc's lenders, the document
said confirming a Reuters report last week.